Meeting in the Middle
by Kalira69
Summary: Madara's quite pleased with his day's work; his quirky mate is difficult to spoil with normal presents, but today Madara knows he has a good one. (Dragon/Mermaid AU; Written for MadaTobi Week, Day 6)


Written for Day 6 of MadaTobi Week: Supernatural/Fantasy

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A familiar shimmer caught Madara's eye and he banked sharply, rolling in midair to adjust his flight. As he approached the large, rocky island he saw a familiar silvery pale tail stretched out over one of the tallest rock formations.

Tobirama was the only mer he knew who dragged himself up so far and he did it _regularly_ , Madara truly didn't understand. He called out as he approached and Tobirama's tousled head emerged from behind an outcropping with some sort of plant growing down its sides.

A welcoming trill, piercingly loud, reached Madara's ears and he rumbled happily as he passed over Tobirama's position. Tobirama flicked his tail, the brilliant red streaks on his fins catching the light, and waved a hand.

Madara twitched one wing and angled down to the clear, grassy area beside the tide pool on the higher side. He stretched lazily, wings arching out wide, then folded them inwards as he settled the crate he'd brought a little further from the water.

He turned towards it himself, glancing up at Tobirama's perch and shaking his head as he slipped into the water. It lapped over his scales in a cool, welcome ripple, and he could feel it tugging at a few of the splinters that had gotten lodged amongst his scales earlier as he moved deeper.

Madara sank into the pool, tail coiling loosely around near the rocky edge, and sighed as he stretched out his neck, resting his head on a rock that barely protruded out of the water. Tobirama chirruped from above, sounding amused, and just as Madara lifted his head to look up at him, pushed himself off the rocky platform to dive into the pool in a silvery flash. He crossed it before he came up again with one hand smoothing over Madara's scales, up his belly towards his chest.

Madara rumbled with pleasure, bringing his head in closer and huffing softly, his breath stirring Tobirama's spiky hair. Tobirama smiled, just broad enough to show his sharp teeth, and stretched out his own tail, allowing Madara to tuck him close, curling around him possessively.

The triple fronds of his tailfin tickled Madara as he fluttered his fins, arching his body and cuddling close with a sigh. He reached up idly and rubbed his fingertips over one of the broader scales on Madara's chest, and Madara angled his head to peer down at Tobirama.

"What were you _doing_?" Tobirama asked, shifting and polishing another one of Madara's scales with a huffy sound.

Madara snickered and lowered his head, nudging his nose against Tobirama's shoulder. He flapped one hand at Madara's face, making him laugh and nudge a little harder. Tobirama gave a sharp scolding noise and tugged Madara's head down, meeting one of his eyes with a fierce glare and beginning to pull at his crest where it fell spikily down near his eyes.

Madara growled, and Tobirama hissed back, showing not one whit of nerves. He held up-

Madara sighed and lowered his head further with his lover's next tug, allowing Tobirama to preen splinters and fragments of half-melted metal out of his fur.

"Well?" Tobirama asked as he gently stroked around Madara's right eye, his cool touch making Madara shiver as it drifted over the tiny, delicate scales there.

"It is very difficult to search the hold of a ship when you're my size." Madara said with as much dignity as he could muster. Tobirama leaned back and arched one brow at him. "The humans aboard were shooting at me, I didn't feel like shifting to make it easier."

"Ah." Tobirama's expression eased and he rubbed down the top of Madara's muzzle with one hand before twisting in the water and moving down beneath the surface with a flicker of his broad, graceful tail. His hands sought out Madara's chest and he twitched as one extended fin brushed the membrane of his wing.

Tobirama returned to the surface only after going over most of Madara's chest and belly, a delicate touch removing splinters - itchy but not painful; far too small and soft to actually penetrate Madara's hide - and stroking over his scales. Evading Madara's grab for him, Tobirama hauled himself up with one hand curling around the base of one wing and continued his inspection from lounging along Madara's back.

Madara sighed. It wasn't what he'd wanted, but he was content with this as well. And eventually Tobirama would likely allow himself to be caught up in Madara's arms again.

Madara yelped as Tobirama's gentle caress bloomed suddenly into a sharp pain by one wing joint.

He twisted to glare down at his lover and Tobirama held up one iridescent black scale, scowling back. "Were you, perhaps, being _shot at_ by _cannonade_?" he demanded.

Madara opened his mouth, then closed it, snorting a little plume of smoke and settling lower in the water. Not that it caused Tobirama any discomfort, half submerging him again, or that Madara could really hide under the surface anyway.

"Perhaps." Madara admitted, arching his wings and letting them drape down across the water's surface. "They didn't do any _real_ damage." he added with a snort.

Tobirama sighed and patted Madara's back between his shoulder blades, fingers ruffling his crest, then pushed off and dropped back into the water. "Perhaps not," he said as he wound behind Madara's left foreleg and tucked himself close, "but you could have been much more injured than simply losing one scale. What were you after that was so important, anyway? You don't usually go after the humans' ships." He tucked the scale into his hair before cuddling against Madara's chest and Madara folded him into an embrace with a pleased rumble.

Tobirama smiled slightly, tail curling around Madara's leg, and returned the soft sound with a half-sung note.

"You said you wished you had some of the humans' new navigation instruments to play with," Madara said, shifting his body and settling a little lower, lounging on the soft sand of the pool's bottom, "now you do." He was quite satisfied with himself for the acquisition, actually. Tobirama didn't _want_ sparkly things - he had little interest in most material items, really - and while Madara _could_ hunt for him there was relatively little point. Tobirama was a more than adept hunter himself, in his own sphere.

Madara knew intellectually that Tobirama required no further courting, but it unsettled him not to be able to build up a hoard for his mate, and there was little Tobirama _wanted_ that Madara could get for him. Books and equipment from human ships or settlements, at times, were about the only thing he would light up for - and they were worth the trouble, when the opportunity arose.

"You brought me a set of the new instruments to experiment with?" Tobirama asked, tipping his head, eyes sparkling.

Madara preened a little internally, feeling a further spark of pride. "I did. You wanted them, didn't you?" he questioned, smirking a little.

Tobirama _must_ be pleased with him, because the expression barely netted a reaction at all.

"I did!" Tobirama replied happily, gaze straying to the chest Madara had brought with him. Madara made an only slightly plaintive sound and Tobirama's attention returned to him with a fond smile that ever-so-slightly curved the red streaks on his face. "Thank you, beloved." he said warmly, stretching and flirting his tail against Madara's body, kissing the side of his muzzle.

Madara folded his wings close again and rumbled happily. "You're welcome, precious." he said, coiling his neck around Tobirama and nuzzling him affectionately. "Anything for you." he added, which was a level of soppiness he would vehemently deny he was capable of to anyone else but his strange little mate, who he loved so deeply. A dragon's heart was never lightly swayed, nor given, and Madara's belonged wholly to his clever, quicksilver mer. And he was feeling warm and accomplished for providing his chosen mate with something that truly pleased him.

Tobirama curled into Madara's hold contentedly, hands almost lazily stroking down his neck, leaning into him. Madara rumbled with pleasure, eyes heavy-lidded as he curled himself around Tobirama once more.


End file.
